56 replies to this topic

[limby2000]

Ive got minitastic (fast road) springs in my mini 30, also have gaz adjustable shocks, best thing i fitted to the car (although my old donuts were knackered). I dont track it and its fitted with standard 12x4.5 Rover minilites.

[minifreek1]

Mine is also on coil springs all round with KYB Gas a just shocks, must be the best ride Iv ever had in any Mini Iv ever owned....

 

Nice cumfy ride, except on really bumpy roads.....

 

My springs are the middle rating type, Iv still got the rubber cones but to be honest they're knackered....

 

I did have Hi-Lo's fitted all round too, but removed them as I couldn't get them set correctly... I don't have a way of measuring corner weights etc...

[Steve220]

Can't we sticky this topic or put it in the FAQ? It gets asked a lot.

Edited by Steve220, 01 February 2017 - 09:05 AM.

[Alice Dooper]

Ive got minitastic (fast road) springs in my mini 30, also have gaz adjustable shocks, best thing i fitted to the car (although my old donuts were knackered). I dont track it and its fitted with standard 12x4.5 Rover minilites.

I second the Minitastic springs. Results are great!!

We've a Sportpack with 13x7 rims - not the best choice for a comfortable ride etc... our rubbers were knackered and after a LOT of research chose Minitastic springs and GAZ dampers instead of a Moulten easy ride kit.

Minitastic do 3 different rates of spring - road, fast road and full on race bad boys. We went for fast road because of the 13x7 rims but found that we could have went with the road ones. We did set the ride height a small touch higher to give the springs a bit more travel distance with good results.

There was quite a bit of info out there about the different quality from different spring suppliers. Some don't seem so good but the Minitastic ones seem the best regarded. Quality when they arrived was excellent. There are reports of some springs unseating if the car goes near airborne, we overcame that with fitting dampers for a lowered car that will limit the extreme downward travel.

It drives the same, brakes the same and has the same feel just a LOT smoother.

[jaysmini1983]

Lots to think about.

[Steve220]

A lot will also be down to how good your dampers are!

[Scousemouse]

You(not you personally) can quote(spout) all you like about tech stuff,it just goes over my head,all I know is I have NOW got a GREAT SMOOTH riding MINI...which I did not have on original rubber doughnuts.

So I am Happy,don't screw the dogs Bs off my car and I must say In Liverpool not all our roads are billiard Table (pool table for you youngies) smooth.I have no plans to go Rallying or Mud Pluggin.So I repeat TEC stuff don't interest me,personnel experience does,as long as effects me.    

[minifreek1]

^^^^^^^^^^^ Couldn't agree more to be honest

[NuFab]

I've not tried these, but I'd tend towards keeping the cones.

 

One observation I'd make is that Limby2000, minifreek1 and Alice Dooper all love theirs, which is fair enough, but said their rubber donuts were knackered at the point they made the change. Knackered cones are crap and perhaps new cones would have provided just as good an improvement in ride and performed better?

[Cooperman]

One question is why the coil springs seem to give a smother ride. Now it can only be because the initial spring rate is lower with the coil springs, but what is the graph of displacement to applied load? Does anyone have this graph.

It is probably the case that the initial rate is lower but that it increases rapidly from about 1/3rd travel until the spring becomes coil-bound at around full travel.

It would, indeed, be interesting, to see the graphs for standard OE cones, the Moulton Smootha-Ride cones and the Minitastic rising-rate springs (not single-rate race springs).

That would answer the question of whether the ride is in fact smoother with coils, or whether Moulton SR cones would be better if a smooth ride is required.

Most Mini owners want the original ride and feel, so will stick with the proven rubber cone suspension as originally designed.

Of course, damper settings have a great effect on the smoothness of ride. If a smoother ride is wanted, it is easy to raise the ride height by around 2 cm to give more suspension travel, then fit adjustable dampers set 'soft' and that should give the desired result.

As above, if a set of knackered cones are changed to coil springs, the result is likely to be favourable for the coil springs, but what if new OE cones are fitted? That might have the same, or even better, results.

Edited by Cooperman, 01 February 2017 - 03:25 PM.

[Orange-Phantom]

Well I can only go from personal experience, my Mini Delta Fast road springs are in place of the standard rubber, they are rising rate, I have hi-lows, I run Protech Shocks which are properly setup and It has recently been corner weighted.  The whole of the suspension on my car is in A1 condition (although I'm still waiting for a set of Rose Jointed suspension components from MRA which I must chase up again).

 

After driving my brothers Racing Cooper S with new Red Dot Rubbers on it and then driving mine, we then both drove each others and then both commented on how much better planted my brothers was.  (They both run on 10 inch wheels too).  I drove my dad's Mini which used to belong to Tony Pond which runs on 12's, and again the drive was just better and more compliant.  Mine is smoother on nice roads but as soon as the bouncier road surfaces arrive (of which there are many) then the rubber suspension was just in a different class.

 

These are just my personal findings, which is why I'm going back to the original design.

 

I've read the blurb on the standard and red dot rubbers and am curious to know what peoples own experience of each would be.  The red dot seems to be more appropriate for my use and after driving my brothers with the same (which drove beautifully) is swaying my choice towards the reds!

[Spider]

 Does anyone have this graph.

 

Yes.

 

I did a few weeks of testing a few years back. Included in those were some springs.

 

If I get a little time later, I'll post some data.

 

While I do hear praises about springs for some who run them, I've also noted that many, including the users of Minitastic, have also gone back to Rubber Cones.

 

Further, in 'normal' driving, one may not be too aware of the issues with springs and the potential risks they pose.

 

I know from my own tests, both on and off car that the stock rubber cone is superior to any coil spring not only for ride quality, but handling too. The one down side of rubber cones is their characteristics change with time and so to maintain these qualities, require regular replacement.

[tiger99]

I will look forward to seeing these graphs! Stuff like that always interests me.

 

The people who are revelling in how wonderful their steel springs are will be telling a different tale when something breaks big time, as it will...

 

"You cannae change the laws of physics, Captain..."

 

[Spider]

I thought I'd posted them up previously.

 

http://www.theminifo...uts-or-springs/

Edited by Moke Spider, 01 February 2017 - 08:29 PM.

[Cooperman]

Well I can only go from personal experience, my Mini Delta Fast road springs are in place of the standard rubber, they are rising rate, I have hi-lows, I run Protech Shocks which are properly setup and It has recently been corner weighted.  The whole of the suspension on my car is in A1 condition (although I'm still waiting for a set of Rose Jointed suspension components from MRA which I must chase up again).

 

After driving my brothers Racing Cooper S with new Red Dot Rubbers on it and then driving mine, we then both drove each others and then both commented on how much better planted my brothers was.  (They both run on 10 inch wheels too).  I drove my dad's Mini which used to belong to Tony Pond which runs on 12's, and again the drive was just better and more compliant.  Mine is smoother on nice roads but as soon as the bouncier road surfaces arrive (of which there are many) then the rubber suspension was just in a different class.

 

These are just my personal findings, which is why I'm going back to the original design.

 

I've read the blurb on the standard and red dot rubbers and am curious to know what peoples own experience of each would be.  The red dot seems to be more appropriate for my use and after driving my brothers with the same (which drove beautifully) is swaying my choice towards the reds!

Is your dad's ex-Tony Pond Mini a white one with a black roof? If it is then I have navigated it with Tony Pond driving.

What a great drive and super bloke Tony was, It was a sad day when we lost him.

I once flew with Tony's dad who was a flying instructor at Denham and he gave me a check flight in a Miles Magister which I had not flown for some time and wanted to do a long flight in, so I asked him for a check ride.